The Perils of Prosperity
A few weeks ago, the New York Post reported that Gustavo Gordillo, a prominent official in the Democratic Socialists of America, lived in a $1.5 million home owned by his parents, who, in turn, live in a 5,000-square-foot home in Boca Raton that’s listed for $3.1 million. Even accounting for NYC’s high housing prices, this seems pretty lush for someone speaking up for the oppressed of the country.
Recently, Ohio chocolate heiress Grace Ryan, who campaigned for one of the most radical DSA politicians, posted about the need for socialism from her boat while “summering” at the lake. And the new self-described socialist mayor of Seattle recently came under scrutiny when it was discovered that, at 43, her professor-parents pay for her child’s childcare, at $2,2000 a month.
History is full of stories about the children of wealthy elites who adopt radical socio-political causes, coming out as enemies of “the system” that gave them their lives. Dubbed “Lulu Lenins” and “Neiman Marxists,” these are modern incarnations of “champagne socialists” who have the financial luxury of never having to live out of their own bad ideas.
Karl Marx, Vladimir Lenin, and Mao Zedong also did not grow up poor but were comfortably middle class before embracing murderous ideologies. Ayaan Hirsi-Ali just reminded the world that Mohammed Atta, one of the leaders of the 9/11 attacks, was not born into an impoverished situation, but studied architecture and urban planning before turning radical. And, Osama bin Laden was the son of a billionaire.
As it turns out, there’s often a strong correlation between adopting extremist ideology and privilege. In more recent days, the new supporters of Islamism and neo-Communism tend to be college students from relatively well-to-do families.
Such is the danger of undisciplined prosperity. George Orwell once quipped that “some ideas (are) so absurd that only an intellectual could believe them.” And some are so unrealistic that only those insulated by comfort could entertain them, while never facing the consequences of worldviews and ideologies that get reality and the human condition so wrong.
This is, in addition to an incredible intellectual curiosity, what makes Ayaan Hirsi-Ali’s voice so credible. Not only has she experienced life lived in both a family and in nations under the control of Islamism, but she also walked through the personal desert of trying to find meaning without God. When she reminds us of the true nature of Islamic radicalism and the struggle of secular elites to take seriously true belief, we should listen. As she so aptly put it:
Twenty-five years later, the more uncomfortable truth is that the West has become much better at finding, capturing, or killing men like Atta, but still hesitates to confront the milieu he emerged from: the institutions, networks, doctrines, funding streams, and civilizational ambitions that shape him long before he appears on a watchlist.
An obvious lesson is for parents who live with financial blessings. We must teach our kids to appreciate having what we did not earn without forgetting where it came from and how vulnerable it all can be. We need to teach them what is true, as well as how to recognize what is not true, especially when it comes in the form of oppression narratives and false compassion.
Teaching truth will sometimes look like letting them fail and, if so, what it means to be resilient and to try again. When done rightly, sports can be one of the most effective means to teach endurance, self-sacrifice, and the hard truth that success never comes easy. When done poorly, it can affect how they think about every other part of life.
And, of course, teaching history is essential. A generation that doesn’t know that socialism has failed everywhere it has been tried or that communist governments murdered millions in the twentieth century—or even that Osama Bin Laden was the bad guy of 9/11—will be easily deceived by simplistic and even silly ideas about people and how best to help them.
This would be doubly tragic since, as Ayaan Hirsi-Ali put it, we will need the next generation on the essential project of restoration. As she wrote:
Civilizational resilience is not a vague confidence that democracies always muddle through. It is the hard capacity of a people to see its vulnerabilities clearly, repair them in time, and deny its enemies the use of its virtues as weapons.
I’m pleased to announce that Ayaan Hirsi-Ali will be joining us for the 2027 Colson Center National Conference, June 3-6, in Charlotte, NC. Save the date. Registration will open soon.
Photo Credit: ©Unsplash/DanielBarnes
John Stonestreet is President of the Colson Center for Christian Worldview, and radio host of BreakPoint, a daily national radio program providing thought-provoking commentaries on current events and life issues from a biblical worldview. John holds degrees from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School (IL) and Bryan College (TN), and is the co-author of Making Sense of Your World: A Biblical Worldview.
The views expressed in this commentary do not necessarily reflect those of CrosswalkHeadlines.
BreakPoint is a program of the Colson Center for Christian Worldview. BreakPoint commentaries offer incisive content people can't find anywhere else; content that cuts through the fog of relativism and the news cycle with truth and compassion. Founded by Chuck Colson (1931 – 2012) in 1991 as a daily radio broadcast, BreakPoint provides a Christian perspective on today's news and trends. Today, you can get it in written and a variety of audio formats: on the web, the radio, or your favorite podcast app on the go.
